Report: Yemeni Forces Target Israel-Linked Ship

Date: 18 May 2024 - 22:36

News ID: ۱۲۷۴۷۸

SANAA (Dispatches) -- A Panama-flagged crude oil tanker has been targeted around 10 nautical miles from Yemen’s coastal city of Mokha, British security firm Ambrey said on Saturday.
Radio communication indicated the ship was hit by a missile and that there was a subsequent fire onboard.
Since November, Yemen’s forces have carried out several attacks on vessels in the Red Sea in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.
Earlier on Saturday, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) agency said a ship in the Red Sea was struck by an unknown object and sustained slight damage.
“The vessel and crew are safe and continuing to its next port of call,” UKMTO said in an advisory note.
The attacks have caused major disruption to Israeli trade for several months, forcing firms to re-route to longer and more costly journeys around Southern Africa.
The Saturday operation came a day after Yemen’s armed forces claimed to have shot down an advanced American drone.
If confirmed, this would be yet another MQ-9 Reaper downed by the Yemeni forces as they press their campaign in solidarity with the Palestinian people against the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip.
Military spokesman Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree said the Yemeni forces shot down the Reaper on Thursday with a surface-to-air missile. He described the drone as “carrying out hostile actions” in Yemen’s Ma’rib province.
Online video showed wreckage resembling the pieces of the Reaper on the ground, as well as footage of that wreckage on fire.
Since 2014, the U.S. military has previously lost at least five drones to the Yemeni forces.
Reapers, which cost around $30 million apiece, can fly at altitudes up to 50,000 feet and have an endurance of up to 24 hours before needing to land.
The downing of the drone came a day after the Yemeni army announced targeting two ships in the Red Sea, one of them a U.S. warship.
They also confirmed the successful targeting of another ship in the Red Sea, identified as the Destiny. Saree explained that the Destiny was targeted because it violated the blockade on ships headed to Israeli ports.
The statement explained that the ship was headed to the southern port of Eilat on April 20 through “deception and concealment claiming that it was heading to another port.”
The shooting down of the drone also came two days after U.S.–UK airstrikes targeted Yemen’s Hudaydah airport.
In November, Yemen’s armed forces – militarily aligned with the Ansarallah resistance movement – began targeting Israeli-linked ships and vessels en route to Israeli ports in the Red Sea and Arab Seas in support of the Palestinian resistance in Gaza. It vowed to continue doing so until the siege of Gaza is lifted and the war brought to an end.
The U.S. and UK have been waging a violent aerial campaign against Yemen since mid-January in response to Yemeni naval operations. When the campaign began, the scope of Yemen’s operations was expanded to include U.S. and British vessels.
Yemeni forces remain undeterred by the U.S. campaign. U.S. and European maritime task forces have also failed to deter Yemen.
Earlier this year, the Yemeni armed forces expanded the scope of their pro-Palestine operations to include the Indian Ocean, severely affecting the Israeli economy.
The Yemeni army said on May 3 that it would expand its operations to include the Mediterranean Sea.
On Thursday, Ansarullah leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi declared that Yemeni forces will target any ship bound for Israeli ports, regardless of whether they pass through the Red Sea.
“We will target any ship heading to Israel that comes within range of our weapons,” al-Houthi said in televised address.